


Noise

by CaptainLeBubbles



Series: The Way It Changes [3]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 23:39:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3588258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainLeBubbles/pseuds/CaptainLeBubbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maine has always liked noise, even if he didn't make much himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Noise

**Author's Note:**

> Every time I think I've exhausted my ideas for this verse something new comes along.
> 
> One day I'm actually going to do something with that headcanon about Maine having eleven siblings.

o/o

*

Maine was born the first of twelve siblings. He grew up surrounded by children, surrounded by noise. Noise is in his veins, even if it isn't on his lips, isn't in his movements. Noise pumps through his heart like life and energy and the very essence of him.

He's never had trouble finding noise. There was noise on the MoI, the noise of the crew and the ship and the soldiers all blending together into one solid chunk of noise.

The noise of the Freelancers, which was a noise in itself. The noise of South shouting profanities while she broke valuable equipment- that was always a noise to follow, because South was entertaining. The noise of Carolina, taking out her frustrations on the training room floor- that was a noise to stay away from, because Carolina didn't like to be bothered at times like that.

The noise of York cracking jokes and laying on the charm. The noise of North's cheer and encouragement. The noise of Wyoming's knock-knock jokes, accompanied by the noise of Florida's snorts of laughter. The noise of Connie's knives, the noise of Niner shouting orders.

The noise of Wash. Loud, exuberant, awkward, hopeful, shocked, exasperated, confused. Wash's noises weren't just a song, they were a whole damn soundtrack. Wash was a one-man orchestra of noise, beautiful noise, and he left Maine wanting to hear more, to memorize the noise so he could listen to it in his head even when Wash wasn't there.

Then came Sigma, and his mind filled with noise. It was nice, at first. Sigma never stopped talking. He was like some of Maine's siblings, curious about everything and demanding answers to all of his questions. Maine had been content, at first, to let him, because in a way it was like being back at home. He wonders now, sometimes, if perhaps he should have been more stern with him, stopped letting him pull his host's mind apart looking for answers (because even inside his own head, Maine has never been talkative). If maybe things would have been different if he'd stopped him.

And after that Connie died. After that South got angrier. After that Carolina pulled away. After that everyone got tense, waiting for something. After that came Epsilon, and the noises Wash made were horrible, and for the first time Maine wished for silence.

And got it.

Sigma pushed him down so far into his own head that there was nothing but silence to surround him. There was no more noise then, not even the noise of the AI because none of them ever came that far down. (No, that wasn't entirely true. Theta found him once, and stayed to talk to him. But then Sigma came and found him, and led him away, and the silence came back.)

When he first wakes up on Sidewinder, the first time he's conscious enough to be aware of more than just Wash sitting at his bedside, the first thing he notices is the noise. He can hear the sound of a shotgun being fired, the sound of someone complaining in a high, whiny voice. He can hear laughter from a voice that reminds him of York's, not for it's smoothness or tone but because it has that same flair.

A gruff voice yelling orders that only one voice responds to, a voice that drips with sycophantic fervor. A thick voice that speaks words that mean nothing, and the loud voice yelling at the owner for being such an idiot.

It's almost like being at home, listening to his siblings bicker. There's a noise around all of their noise, a noise that sounds like family. He hasn't heard that since before Sigma, before everything fell apart. He hadn't realized just how much he missed it.

Maine lets his consciousness drift back down under the weight of sleep. He still doesn't have the energy to properly wake, but he knows when he does he'll wake to noise.

It's reassuring enough that his sleep is much more peaceful this time.

*

o/o

**Author's Note:**

> I'm about three feet away from having the Chorus Arc rewrite be a sequel where York comes back, but mostly because I keep thinking about how much fun it would be to write him interacting with Grif. I'm pretty sure it would turn into a twelve chapter discussion about the merits of snacks, naps, and red-heads though.


End file.
